NEWS

News for Alumni and Friends of the Center for Limnology Fall 2018

The Year of the Flood Read more on page 6

Photo: Jeff Miller

3 Go Big Read 5 New Trout Lake Station Director 8 Hold the Salt Limnology on People’s Minds All Year Long Thanks to ‘Go Big Read’ by Adam Hinterthuer This Spring, when it was announced that Chancellor Rebecca Blank had selected Dan Egan’s book “The Death and Life of the Great Lakes” as the UW-Madison’s Go Big Read book, we knew that it was an excellent opportunity to keep limnology in the public discourse all year long. Trout Lake Station (TLS) staff hosted a book discussion for more than 40 northern Wisconsin residents at TLS. Our director Jake Vander Zanden (who Egan quotes in the book) joined Egan for a public discussion at a Madison bookstore and moderated Q & A after Egan’s official UW-Madison lecture. Our blog published posts on the Great Lakes and throughout the year. It was great to see a sustained interest in freshwater sciences, but nothing was more rewarding than watching 200 people Dan Egan answers questions from a crowd of more than 200 cram into Working Draft Beer Company for our Science on people for the CFL-sponsored “Science on Tap-Madison” event. Tap-Madison event in October. From the Director Photo: Adam Hinterthuer Egan had just finished up his week of speaking engagements Photo: Jeff Miller at the UW-Madison, including a public talk at UW Memorial Union’s Shannon Hall to more than 1,000 people Greetings! I’m excited to share recap the unprecedented the night before. When the CFL teamed up with University Communications to add a final, more casual event to that our inland lakes spent a lot floods in Madison, how they Egan’s agenda, we didn’t know what to expect. of time in the spotlight on the swamped the Center for What we got was an engaged and inquisitive standing-room-only crowd joining in a conversation with Egan to talk UW-Madison campus this year. Limnology (CFL) basement, about how human activity, both intentional and accidental, has shaped the entire Great Lakes . As you may know, each year the and how they relate to UW-Madison Chancellor selects . We discuss Perhaps the most poignant moment came when someone asked Egan how we, as individuals, could protect the a single book as the focus of a CFL leadership in the open Great Lakes. He responded by saying that, before we can start the hard work of protecting a place, we have to love campus-wide shared reading data movement, introduce it first. And for us to love a place, we have to know it. And the most powerful way to build that sense of place is to experience called ‘Go Big Read.’ the new Trout Lake Station spend time in it when you’re young. Essentially, Egan said, find some kids and get them to a Great Lake. Thousands of UW-Madison Director, explore road salt We couldn’t agree more, and we’re thrilled we were able to help Egan have that conversation. students read the book, and it’s in our lakes and head out on used in scores of courses and a hunt for fish DNA. Each discussion groups across campus of these vignettes highlights Emily Stanley’s Big Year and throughout the state. This the synergy among teaching, by Adam Hinterthuer year’s Go Big Read selection was The Death and Life of research, and outreach that the Great Lakes by Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reporter we constantly strive for at the CFL. While everyone here at the Center for Limnology had a good year, it’s safe to say Dan Egan. The book tells the remarkable story of the I’ll close with a warm ‘thank you’ to the many generous that 2018 treated Emily Stanley particularly well. ecological changes in the Great Lakes wrought by the alumni, friends, and donors who have financially For starters, she was named a 2018 fellow by the Ecological Society of America introduction of invasive species and other various forms supported the CFL during the past year. Your support (ESA). In an announcement about the award, the ESA wrote that Emily was of environmental mismanagement. With all this attention allows us to sustain our impact, and to train the next recognized for “the quality and importance of her contributions to ecology, for her on the ecology of our lakes, we’ve been taking advantage generation of leaders in limnology and the aquatic ability to identify and lead new ecological frontiers, and for making connections of the opportunity to increase awareness and promote sciences. We couldn’t have done it without you. Please across boundaries that continue to push our field forward.” conversations about our lakes and water resources. It may don’t hesitate to drop me a note and an update. Emily & Griffin Photo: Selfie be a while before another limnology-themed book ends If that weren’t enough, the Association for the Sciences of Limnology and up on the ‘Go Big Read’ list! Oceanography (ASLO) also weighed in, presenting Emily with the 2018 G. Evelyn Hutchinson Award. The G. Jake Vander Zanden I hope you enjoy the latest Limnology News. It has been Evelyn Hutchinson award honors a limnologist or oceanographer who has made considerable contributions to an eventful year and we cover a broad swath of topics Wayland Noland Distinguished Chair and Director knowledge, and whose future work promises a continued legacy of scientific excellence. in this installment. In addition to ‘Go Big Read’ we Center for Limnology, University of Wisconsin-Madison Emily’s award was for her contributions to the understanding of the roles and the biogeochemistry of nitrogen and carbon play in lake and stream ecology and for “consistently pushing scientists to look beyond Hasler Laboratory of Limnology traditional physical and disciplinary boundaries of freshwater research.” She was presented 680 N. Park Street with the award at the ASLO Summer Meeting in Victoria, British Columbia. Madison, WI 53706 While all of these accolades merely confirmed what we already knew about Emily, it sure was Trout Lake Station nice to see some of the freshwater sciences’ most esteemed professional organizations agree 3110 Trout Lake Station Dr. Boulder Junction, WI 54512 with our assessment. Congrats, Emily!

2 Limnology News limnology.wisc.edu 3 Researchers at the Wisconsin and New Mexico sites created Gretchen Gerrish: Meet the New Trout Lake EDI as a way to take data sharing Station Director by Adam Hinterthuer and archiving mainstream in the Last year we shared the sad news ecological sciences. While it was (for us, at least) that Tim Kratz initially a way to bring diverse LTER was retiring as director of Trout datasets together, Gries, who is a Lake Station (TLS). This year, principal investigator (PI) for the we get to share the happy news project, says that they now work that we have hired his succes- with researchers whether they are sor. We’re thrilled to welcome Gretchen Gerrish to the Center funded by the NSF or not. for Limnology (CFL). (She’ll “It is very, very important to support start summer of 2019.) We asked the ecological researcher in learning her a few questions about her how to publish their data and help current work and what she hopes that process along,” she says. “So we to do in the Northwoods. have professional data scientists to Who are you, where are you support [them].” and what are you currently studying? I am a teacher, mentor, Colin Smith is one of these scientists. researcher, friend, sister, wife, Part of the EDI’s data curation Gretchen and her family - husband, Ben, and mother. I am currently filling team, Smith helps scientists submit and sons, Luke (11) and Alex (8), are all those roles while working as an their datasets to the EDI archives, looking forward to their new adventure in Associate Professor at UW-La writes data management software the Northwoods Crosse. I study evolutionary and leads trainings and workshop ecology in aquatic invertebrates events. Smith says he’s seeing a lot of and am currently studying zooplankton community changes enthusiasm for the EDI. occurring in the Mississippi River in response to invasion by Asian Over the course of their career, a The importance of sharing and Carp. I also am researching a group of marine bioluminescent productive ecological scientist will archiving data is two-fold. First, “People are quickly becoming open ostracods found in coral reef habitats in the Caribbean. publish dozens of scientific papers rather than using only their own to this idea,” he says. “It’s a new What made you apply to head up a research station way up Environmental and pile up mountains of data to get limited datasets from a few study generation of scientists coming up near Boulder Junction? I applied because I want to put my those results. And all too often, says sites, scientists can ask and answer that are used to doing synthesis efforts toward conducting research, mentoring students and CFL senior scientist, Corinna Gries, questions about the natural world science with other people’s data. facilitating science at a place where field studies are a central part Data Initiative all of that data is stuck on that single on much longer timescales and They are also growing up in a of generating new discoveries. I am passionate about promoting scientist’s computer – doomed to at regional or even global scales. culture where data is a valued nature-guided research and learning. The relatively pristine Wants to Make disappear when they retire. Everyday, Second, as new technologies or new research product and they’re going systems surrounding TLS along with the long-term data available countless datasets that could help us issues emerge, we will have historical to get credit for it.” on the region make it extremely valuable in pairing past and learn more about the world around data archived that can help answer present understanding. Storing and People are also seeing the EDI us are simply lost. questions we’re not even thinking as a way of having not only their You spent a couple summers at TLS as an undergrad. Do To try to fix that problem, Gries is about yet. any memories of the experience stand out? I was an undergrad Sharing Data published papers, but also their at Lawrence University and was co-mentored by Bart DeStasio looking to the stars. Or, rather, to And that’s where the Environmental collected datasets outlive their from Lawrence University and [former TLS director] Tom Frost. the people who study the stars. Data Initiative (EDI) comes in. careers, he says. My first summer job was to [be involved with] chlorophyll and Second Nature Founded in 2016, the EDI is a “What we are focusing on is really The EDI, Smith says, turns phytoplankton counts and other analyses from the Long Term collaboration between University Ecological Research (LTER) lakes. While not the most exciting by Adam Hinterthuer the culture change of convincing of Wisconsin-Madison and ecological datasets into a “living people to publish their data and body of knowledge” that can be job, my summer was filled by volunteering to help on LTER University of New Mexico Long base crew, electroshocking, helping remove coarse woody debris share their data, because in ecology Term Ecological Research (LTER) accessed and reexamined by future from streams, etc. Helping graduate students and PIs on various we are still so far behind. There’s projects. Funded by the National generations of scientists as they projects filled my field skill toolkit and revealed the creative and still a lot of data that people just Science Foundation (NSF), the continue the important work of problem-solving nature of science. aren’t willing to share,” says Gries. LTER program is made up of helping us “discover how the world The hope, she says, is to be more Is there anything you’re excited about for the new job? more than two dozen research sites works and how to adapt and live Research questions you’re already thinking about pursuing? Photo above: like astronomers. “They are sort conducting long-term monitoring within it.” I have a number of ideas but am excited to talk with folks more Data scientists and computer of the glowing goal of where and research on different and cultivate collaborations. I plan to collect data (zooplankton programmers from across everybody would like to be. They across North America. Since the the country met to discuss microfossils, pollen, diatoms, chemistry, etc.) from sediment cores building better software at an have data standards and they share. 1980s, the NSF has mandated that of the LTER lakes to see if we can match the long-term recorded EDI “Hackathon.” Nobody is even asked if they want to LTER sites manage and archive their data with dynamics inferred from the sediment record. Eventually, Photo: Colin Smith share [data] or not, it just is how it data – resulting in a huge cache of these data could be used to extend our understanding of these works.” information over the decades. ecosystems back-in-time. I am excited to join the community of scientists at the station and CFL. Good people, common mission!

4 Limnology News limnology.wisc.edu 5 Photo right: Lake Monona experienced record-high water levels, making boat launches inaccessible and forcing the DNR to declare the entire lake a “Slow, No Wake” zone from August through October. Photo: Adam Hinterthuer

The high water overflowed the Hasler Lab But there are things we can say , chemistry and ecology boat slip making our inflatable dyke and water when reporting on the weather. of our lakes, rivers, streams and pumps essential for much of the fall. Humans have been documenting wetlands. Photo: Adam Hinterthuer weather events for hundreds of Here in Madison, the event revived years and researchers have noticed a debate on how we manage water alarming trends in that data. In the levels in our lakes. Should Lake Followers on: This summer, an unwelcome exactly getting out to a wide U.S., extreme tornado outbreaks Mendota’s target levels be lowered The Year of the Flood houseguest moved into Hasler audience. While every media are increasing. Hurricanes are so that it can hold back a higher Lab. As the Yahara watershed outlet covered the floods and getting more intense. And extreme volume of future flood waters? If 594 Instagram by Adam Hinterthuer received staggering amounts of many interviews involved people precipitation events are much so, what does that mean for the rainfall, already elevated waters who had “never seen anything more common than they used to people and businesses who rely on 1,434 Facebook levels rose even more and Lake like this,” the words “climate be - especially in the Midwest and the current levels to get their boats Mendota started knocking on change” rarely came up - a strange Northeast U.S. in the water, fish off their piers and 4,596 Twitter our back door. Eventually, it let omission, given that we are already Climate change is not just some otherwise get around on our city’s itself in. Even as summer turned seeing an increase in the frequency future problem looming on the largest lake? And what should we 68,874+ Blog post views to fall, we still had an inflatable and intensity of storms like these horizon. It’s here now. And we’re do with downstream dams, like the dyke, water pumps and industrial- and computer models predict dealing with its impacts. We’ve one in Stoughton, that acts as the strength dehumidifiers deployed even more extreme rain events for seen this in our own work - from last “plug” in the Yahara Lakes’ down in the boat slip. Wisconsin’s future. shrinking lake ice to declining drainage basin? Of course, the fact that Dave This isn’t just a Wisconsin issue. walleye populations to increasing As these public conversations and Harring, the Center for Limnology A recent report found that, across harmful algae blooms. All are impacts policy debates get tossed about, (CFL) facilities manager, had to all platforms, news coverage of associated with a warmer world. we will continue to supply the wear waders to work for a couple extreme events is falling short on Here at the CFL, we are trying best possible science we can to of months is a mere inconvenience reporting on climate change. For to do our small part in helping help inform the discussion, adjust compared to the destruction example, out of 127 segments inform the public about what to a new normal, plan for future Wisconsin’s 2018 floods have had aired about 2018’s global heat climate change may mean for the weather events, and learn to better in terms of homes damaged, roads wave, only one mentioned global future of our freshwater systems. live with our lakes. and bridges washed out and, in warming. And NBC and ABC Just as our coverage of massive a few tragic cases, lives lost. But never even brought it up during blue green algae blooms last year Cover Photo: Standing on a concrete our soggy basement does serve as our most recent record-breaking reached thousands of Wisconsin pier more than six inches under water, hurricane season. a reminder that weather like this residents, our blog and social media graduate student Daniel Haryanto and is becoming more common and Part of the problem is that it posts and media outreach about undergraduate Ella Norris look out to a sign that the impacts of climate is scientifically impossible to the floods this summer helped the horizon as the rising water of Lake change are here, now. readers understand how the event pin a singular weather event on Mendota floods the boat slip underneath Heavy rains and already high water levels had Lake Immediately after the August climate change. When a reporter led to historic flooding, how our Mendota knocking on the back door of Hasler Lab the Arthur D. Hasler Laboratory of rainstorm in Dane County, we comes calling, most scientists are own land-use decisions made the this summer. Photo: Adam Hinterthuer Limnology on August 24, 2018. noticed that this message isn’t reluctant to assign blame. problem worse and what these kinds of changes may mean for the Photo: Jeff Miller

6 Limnology News limnology.wisc.edu 7 Hold the Salt: CFL Researcher Works to Preserve Our Freshwaters Field Samples: Postdoc and Graduate Students by Adam Hinterthuer Since the 1940s, road salt has been used to keep winter roads navigable by melting away snow and ice. Today, some 23 million metric tons of sodium chloride-based rock salt is applied to North American roads each year. Much of it washes into nearby water bodies, where it begins to add up, says Center for Limnology assistant professor Hilary Dugan. In fact, 44% of North America’s lakes are getting saltier, which is bad news for the plants and animals that call them home. While some species may be better able to tolerate salty waters than others, “our native species are adapted to freshwater,” Dugan says. “Salt will stress Sarah Collins (Postdoc, Stanley) Rob Mooney (Ph.D., Stanley) Kousei (Martin) Perales (Ph.D., them out and any kind of stress is taking away from @eco_scollins @MooneyRob Vander Zanden) their ability to survive and reproduce.” Sarah grew up in Bellingham, WA and Rob is originally from Sauk Prairie, Martin grew up in southern California received her undergraduate degree WI. He completed his B.S. and M.S. and attended Bakersfield Community Dugan spent much of her early career exploring at Lewis & Clark College. Summer at UW-La Crosse. While living in the College before heading to the UC-Davis naturally salty lakes in Antarctica but, starting with a internships at Flathead Lake in Montana Driftless Area, he spent most of his time to earn his bachelor’s degree in Wildlife, study published in the Proceedings of the National Lake Monona, where rising salinity is due to nearby road salt application. and Lake Tanganyika in East Africa on streams - either fishing or conducting Fish and Conservation Biology. After Academies of Sciences in 2017, she’s broadened that inspired her to pursue a Ph.D. in aquatic research. His experiences there graduating, Martin worked in the Peter focus to include waters closer to home. But, she warns, “there’s been very little effort [to ecology at Cornell University to study food magnified his appreciation for freshwater Moyle fish ecology lab at UC-Davis address this] in the private sector.” Road salt is especially Dugan is currently webs in temperate and tropical streams. ecosystems. where he monitored fish communities problematic during snow removal on large parking and mapped aquatic habitat in a tidal at work on a “risk At the CFL, as part of the Emily Stanley When given the opportunity to pursue lots, which are often managed by private snow-removal freshwater estuary. map” of all the companies that have no incentive not to use as much lab, she helped to build a database that a Ph.D. at the CFL, he couldn’t say lakes in Wisconsin salt as possible. includes water quality data for thousands of no. Rob is studying seasonal and spatial Martin has had the privilege of working that will predict lakes at a continental scale. This work has nutrient dynamics in Lake Michigan’s on issues related to the conservation of the chloride “There’s this perceived liability and they cake parking allowed Sarah, Emily and a large group of tributaries. Lake Michigan is the largest native fishes around the world, from concentration lots full of salt,” Dugan says, estimating that private snow collaborators to examine how stressors like lake entirely within the United States, Puerto Rico to Thailand to Alaska, and for a lake based removal companies may be responsible for as much as half change and climate change affect and Rob has travelled around its coastline now in northern Wisconsin. on attributes like our total road salt use. “There’s still a long way to go to water quality in all United States lakes. numerous times to collect and analyze Martin says, “Studying fish has always Dugan studies super salty lakes in its proximity to cut that back,” she says but early responses to her research In August, Sarah took a position as an water from hundreds of streams and been synonymous with adventure!” At Antarctica as well as increasing salinity in paved surfaces showing the extent of the problem are encouraging. assistant professor in the Dept. of rivers that enter the Lake’s coastal region. the CFL, Martin is pursuing a Ph.D. lakes closer to home. Photo: Hilary Dugan or the amount The public sector, especially state departments of and Physiology at the University of “Seasonal shifts in Midwestern streams with Jake Vander Zanden and is currently of development transportation in the Midwest and Northeastern U.S., Wyoming, where she plans to continue are a main interest of mine, “ Rob says, working to understand the consequences around it. Such a map would be useful from a are “leading the pack” in addressing the increasing doing experiments and synthesizing data to “and this opportunity has allowed me to of increasing lakeshore development for management point of view, Dugan says. salinity of our freshwaters, she says, especially in understand how freshwater ecosystems work. explore that.” shoreline habitat and fish communities. For example, she is in regular contact with the Wisconsin where “they’re pretty serious about cutting Wisconsin Department of Transportation (WDOT). back salt use in the state.” Catching Up With Alumnus Lucas Joppa (Research Asst, Vander Zanden) “I’m able to provide maps and data showing that this is Where are you now and what are you up to? a problem in every county in Wisconsin,” Dugan says, I’m currently serving as the Chief Environmental Officer at Microsoft in Redmond, WA. which helps “show them what’s being impacted and After finishing my undergraduate degree at UW-Madison in Wildlife Ecology, doing a then they can go to their stakeholders and say, ‘Look stint in the Peace Corps in Malawi and getting my Ph.D. in Ecology at Duke, I moved we really need to change what we’re doing.’ It saves us to Microsoft Research to lead research programs at the intersection of environmental and computer science. I now oversee environmental sustainability for Microsoft’s global money in the long run. Salt is cheap, but it’s not free! operations, as well as run Artificial Intelligence (AI) for Earth, a cross-company program So if they reduce use, they reduce their budget. It can dedicated to deploying Microsoft’s 35 years of investments in AI research and technology to be a win-win as long as we maintain that level of safety.” change the way society monitors, models and ultimately manages Earth’s natural resources. Dugan points to WDOT studies on brine as one What led you to study at the Center for Limnology (CFL)? positive development. Brine, or a salt and water mixture Ichthyology! I loved that Jim Kitchell and CFL still taught the time-honored traditions of that is sprayed on roads, sticks to the surface better than the standard “ologies” and that started my time at CFL. I was exceptionally fortunate to spend much more time the rock salt that often simply bounces from the back of in the Center as a research associate with Jake Vander Zanden, who taught me so much about what it takes to be the snowplow and into a roadside ditch. The WDOT is a scientist who practices both theory and application. And I grew up in Price County, WI not far from Trout Lake also being more judicious in salt applications in spring Station, so even before I knew anything about the CFL. Maybe it was the subliminal messages from my childhood? she says, preferring to let those late March and early Is there anything you learned at the CFL that’s been helpful in your current pursuits? April snow showers simply melt away, rather than head So much. I learned what science is, and how to practice it. I learned what computer science is, and how it relates to out and dump tons of salt on our roads. The use of de-icer instead of solids can reduce the amount of salt needed. the natural sciences. And I saw how technology can accelerate scientific inquiry. Is it any wonder I chose the career path I did after my time at CFL?

8 Limnology News limnology.wisc.edu 9 The CFL Bids Farewell to Forensic Fishing: Using eDNA to Track See all ‘Awards’ and ‘Catching Pete McIntyre Fish Populations Up With Alumni’ at our This year, the Center for by Sydney Widell Limnology (CFL) bid farewell to CFL Newsletter webpage Pete McIntyre as he moved back to the place where he received his Ph.D. to become an associate professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Cornell University. We wish Pete and his family the best in their new location but can’t deny that he leaves a fish-shaped hole SAVE THE DATE! here at Hasler Lab. The Association for the Sciences of Pete was hired at the CFL in 2010 Limnology and Oceanography and and launched an ambitious set of research projects that mixed field the Society for Freshwater Science are studies with large-scale spatial teaming up to host joint aquatic analyses across the globe. Pete’s science meetings here in Madison, lab conducted studies on migratory June 7-12, 2020. This will be fishes in the Great Lakes, native Once Mike’s field technician Dane McKittrick collects a sample, he seals it, disinfects gobies in Hawaiian streams, the bottle and quickly moves it to a cooler. Photo: Sydney Widell a great opportunity to learn local fish conservation efforts the latest in aquatic and marine in Thailand, and the dynamics Right now, Mike is specifically looking at walleye — a species that the sciences and catch up with friends WDNR is mandated by law to make population estimates of annually. between nutrients and productivity Mike Spear heads onto Bearskin Lake looking for environmental DNA - or eDNA - the and collegues. We look forward to in Africa’s Lake Tanganyika. genetic material fish shed as they move around the lake. Photo: Sydney Widell The WDNR collects data on 15 different lakes each year, and Mike is surveying its 2018 sample sites. That way, he’ll be able to compare his evenings on the Memorial Union When he wasn’t globe-trotting, terrace and watching the sun set Pete was also a dedicated science UW-Madison undergrad Sydney Widell spent her summer at Trout Lake Station as findings to theirs. communicator for the CFL. the summer science communication intern as she followed researchers around and sent In the spring, researchers capture and tag walleye on a lake using nets. over one of limnology’s landmark Pete headed up the CFL’s outreach back a ton of entertaining and informative dispatches from the field - like this one Later on, they return to the lake, and using a method called electrofishing lakes. efforts in our partnership with from August 20th. to stun fish, quickly net them and check for tags before safely releasing Chicago’s Shedd Aquarium and them back to the lake. SEE YOU IN 2020! At the start of every fishing season, the Wisconsin Department of Natural their annual “World Fish Migration Based on sex ratios, the size of the lake and the number of tagged walleye Day” event. He also worked with Resources (WDNR) embarks on the arduous task of setting catch limits on the state’s popular game fish like walleye. they caught a second time, they can extrapolate the size of the entire citizen scientists monitoring spring population. fish migrations in Lake Michigan In order to estimate how many fish anglers may remove from a lake while still near Chicago and was a yearly But, for the WDNR, surveying the 15 lakes takes weeks and requires a THANK YOU FOR keeping the population healthy, the WDNR first needs to estimate how many fixture at the CFL’s Hasler Lab lot of personnel. SUPPORTING THE CFL fish are in the lake to begin with and how those populations are changing. Not Open House, where he could If Mike can establish a relationship between the amount of walleye eDNA be found down in the boat slip an easy task, considering that there can be thousands upon thousands of fish in a single 100-acre lake. in a lake and the population estimates made by the WDNR, he could wrangling rock bass and common The generosity of our donors allows the carp for our curious, younger potentially model entire populations based entirely on eDNA. And more than 1,000 of the state’s 15,074 lakes fit that bill. Center for Limnology to help our students, visitors. “The idea behind that is we have all these walleye swimming around in a faculty and staff reach their full potential. Enter CFL graduate student Mike Spear, who may be on the brink of developing lake, and it takes a lot of time and effort to pull those walleye out of the We know Pete will be an Please consider making a gift to the Center a radical new way to estimate fish populations by decoding their DNA. lake and count them,” Mike said. “But we can, just by taking a water invaluable addition at Cornell and for Limnology Endowment Fund. look forward to seeing what other Mike is based in Madison, but I got the chance to catch up with him in the sample, find and count the number of walleye DNA molecules that are floating around in the water.” far-flung adventures he gets up to! field on Bearskin Lake when he came up north to sample last week. CFL Support webpage: Mike will spend the fall looking for segments of genetic code unique to https://limnology.wisc.edu/support/ As fish swim through a lake, Mike explained, they constantly shed genetic walleye, or a “walleye signature,” in the samples he’s taking now. material in the form of skin, eggs and waste. The amount of environmental Last year’s sampling yielded results that looked a lot like the WDNR’s, DNA — or eDNA — in the water might give researchers like Mike clues about or the size of the fish populations it came from. he said. “These fish are literally broadcasting their presence in DNA,” Mike said. “What “The relationship was strong enough that we’re doing it again this year Contact Troy Oleck, UW Foundation at we want to do is see if we can use environmental DNA to get population to see if it holds up year to year,” Mike said. “It could be a tool going 608-284-1673 or [email protected] estimate information in a much quicker, less disruptive and less costly way.” forward [fisheries managers] might want to adopt.” You can find more of Sydney’s words and pictures on our blog.

10 Limnology News limnology.wisc.edu Support - limnology.wisc.edu/support Nonprofit Org. Blog - blog.limnology.wisc.edu U.S. Postage PAID Twitter - twitter.com/WiscLimnology Permit #658 Madison, WI Facebook - facebook.com/centerforlimnology Center for Limnology University of Wisconsin-Madison 680 N. Park Street Madison, WI 53706-1413

CFL Photo Caption Contest!

What in the world is TLS Interim Director Susan Knight doing?

Sure, there’s a right answer, but we’re looking for your funniest captions to explain the scene to the left.

Submit answers to the CFL Photo Caption Webpage or email to [email protected] by December 31st and CFL judges will choose their top 3 submissions to showcase on our CFL blog in 2019!